Posted by Ekcarraway on August 15th 2009 to
Obesity
In the past week, I saw a statistic (but I don’t know it’s source) that America is now the fattest nation in the world with 100 million either overweight or obese individuals…fully 60% of our population. Clearly, Obesity is an issue; even if some of the numbers are off by a bit…
THE WHY of Obesity
Why do you think that is? After spending the afternoon at the Medical Library, researching articles on obesity and metabolism, I can tell you there is a tremendous amount of research going on in many different disciplines. That, is a VERY good thing. Science, and the rest of us, will be well served to fully and completely understand the mechanism of obesity; and WHY we are getting fatter despite an abundance of information on how to avoid obesity and being overweight.
Vs. the WHAT of Obesity
But here’s something to consider, and I suspect when it will always come back to this simple concept, we know HOW obesity is created: surplus energy consumed. Researchers in the biochemical, biomolecular, and neurobiological fields can continue to question what is happening in different parts of our brains to keep us eating long after the need for calories is satisfied - but according to one scientist I read today, Obesity is actually a neurobehavioral disorder. (Dagher, A; Int. J of Obesity (2009) 33, S30-S33). We CHOSE to take an action, despite knowing that it will create a negative outcome (we eat extra food, even though we don’t want to be morbidly fat). It isn’t much different from spending more money than we actually have…we lose our homes, our cars, our lifestyles. When we eat more food than we need, we gain weight.
I write this to make a point. The WHY of obesity, while important, and good to know, isn’t as important as the WHAT of being obesity free. We can wait, as a society, for science to answer the Why…then maybe they can develop a drug that will help us…but what that drug is helping us from, is ONLY ourselves. To this day, and I believe for the rest of my life, the bitter irony is that they very thing I hated about my life was the very thing I created in my life.
Warning - Blaming ahead
Every once in a while, I get a painful, angry email or comment from someone, telling me that they are terminally obese and and as soon as there is a way to padlock the refrigerator, then they will stay fat and obese. I ALWAYS respond, as kindly, but as firmly as possible;
- It is quite simple way to padlock the refrigerator
- go throw every piece of processed food out, RIGHT NOW and buy ONLY fruits, vegetables, rice, beans and low-fat meats
- eat those foods for 1 WEEK…as much as you want…until you are full.
- count the pounds (or the amount of size) you lost
An individual who believes that the problem (being fat, eating too much) is outside him/her self will NOT lost weight, even with surgery. Sorry, let me be more clear. Of course, they will immediately lose weight after a surgical intervention, but it will be very short lived. While I never had surgery, I definitely spent 30 years of my life believing that the right diet, the right job, the right location, the right workout program, the right book, the right coach, the right SOMETHING, would help me to be lean (not fat.) Notice…it was never about ME doing right by ME.
Hitting Bottom
Overcoming obesity is hard…it was, and remains for me, the most challenging set of decisions and actions of my life. It is a daily choice to eat in a way that my intake is less than my output. Once I get to my ideal size (a pure 10), I will need to learn maintenance…balancing intake with output. I am certain there will be challenges along the way…but the INITIAL decision and set of actions, to accept that I had created my obese body, and only I could change it - it nearly broke me. It was probably the alcoholic’s equivalent to hitting bottom. (Caveat - I read a lot today about the “Obesity as addition” arguments; I don’t agree, and maybe only for personal reasons, but I recognize that the psychology, and the physiology is very similar.)
It was painful…and changing directions was brutal. I was eating in excess of 4500 calories a day and not moving at all if I could avoid it. I had to start with baby steps - there was NO way I was going to take on another diet. Cutting ONE bite out of my candy bar, along with walking one lap around the office building was the best I could do at first. Then, I cut out a second bite, and I walked further. Progress was slow…but momentum built, and 2.5 years later, I am @ 120 pounds leaner. (Jeez - That is a LOT OF FAT!) Today I eat around 2000 calories a day and I jogged 3 miles today.
The Magic of Thin
One of the first things I learned as the weight came off, was that life wasn’t suddenly better - and that almost derailed me. Yes, I felt better and I liked losing weight…but I still had the same life (job, home, animals, partner). I believed in the magic of thin - a belief that thin (NOT fat) people had great lives and no problems. Not that I didn’t see the daily struggles of thin celebrities in the media…I was simply fantasizing that all my problems would be solved, WHEN I lost weight. Life doesn’t work that way.
Day 4 - Obesity Free Challenge
I’ll return to my story in tomorrow’s post, but I wanted to give you the day’s progress on the 28 day challenge. Good eating and a jog complimented a day on campus researching. Calories just under 2000, with a better distribution of fat/carbs/protein. For this challenge I am simply aiming for 2000 calories per day, plus movement. After the wedding I want to do some personal experiments on different calorie distributions (with controlled workouts) to see if there is an effect on weight loss - anyone who wants to participate let me know. It would be interesting to see the results from as many of you as possible.
Take comfort in knowing that the body you have created today can be a different body in your tomorrows. You are not destined or doomed to anything. You have unbelievable power within you to make even the smallest changes to your life…cutting out just part of the donut. Having 1/2 a slice less of pizza, putting your ice cream in a cup instead of a bowl, walking to the mailbox and back an extra time…ALL of it adds up. And while it seems unsurmountable now, to lose 100-200, even 300 pounds without surgery…it is happening EVERY day in the country and around the world, with the same concepts in place; EAT less than you NEED.
Join me in the challenge…see how much you can change your body in just 28 days…what do you have to lose? 